Petition seeks Medal of Honor for fallen Marines

A petition posted on the White House website asks the president to award the nation’s highest award for valor to two fallen Marines who in 2008 stopped a truck laden with explosives from barreling through the checkpoint they were guarding in Iraq,saving dozens of lives.

But those who want to sign on must act quickly. The deadline is Sunday.

Cpl. Jonathan Yale, a rifleman with 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, and Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter, another rifleman with 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, were awarded the Navy Cross posthumously in February 2009. But the petition asks President Obama to upgrade the awards to the Medal of Honor.

Yale and Haerter were killed on April 22, 2008. They were manning an entry control point of a joint security station in Ramadi, Iraq, when a 20-foot tanker truck sped towards them. Iraqi policemen who were guarding the checkpoint with the Marines fled, but Yale and Haerter ran out in front of the truck and began to shoot.

The driver slowed and then detonated 2,000 pounds of explosives. The two riflemen were killed in the attack, but prevented the driver from penetrating the gate. Their actions were credited with saving the lives of at least 50 people.

For their bravery and for saving the lives of their commrades, the Marines should be awarded the Medal of Honor, according to G.F. of Alexandria, Va., who created the petition on the White House website in December.

“As the Iraqis around them fled, they leaned in, unloading their weapons,” G.F. wrote.

In order for petitions on that site to be reviewed by White House officials, they must get at least 100,000 signatures within 30 days. That deadline is Sunday. So far, about 2,800 people have signed it.

The blast that killed Yale and Haerter was captured by a security camera. In 2009, then-Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James T. Conway, highlighted the actions of the two riflemen during that year’s Marine Corps birthday message.

Conway said that if older veterans questioned the capabilities of today’s generation of Marines, they could look to the courage, selflessness and devotion to duty shown by Yale and Haerter that day in 2008. Staff Sgt. Kenneth Grooms, with 1/9, spoke about the attack during the video message.

“I’m not sure if I could even put into the right words what it took for those two Marines that day to stare death in the face and say, ‘You’re not taking my brothers, you are not passing,'” Grooms said.

63 Comments

I served with Corporal Yale, he was an outstanding Marine, he have us and many more a chance to live and fight another day. They deserved this award from the commands and the commandant, but even now deserve it more than ever!!! Give these devil dogs what they are due!!

The medal is the least that these 2 men deserve!!!!!! They saved lives & protect all of the united states!!!!!!! we should be kissing their feet!!!!! Thank you for being you!!! your a warrior with angel wings!!!!! GOD BLESS YOU!!!!!!

the GMH cant be bought by any civilian or soldier it can only be earned in the field of battle it is in my judgement the highest honer one can hope to achieve in this life worth more than all the worlds riches and these marines deserve it . semper fi brothers

The most bad ass of devil dogs, Chesty Puller, was awarded 5 Navy Crosses for Valor. That is exactly what these 2 bad ass Marines earned and were awarded. Are you trying to say there should be a White House petition to award Chesty the Medal of Honor for his Navy Cross citations?

These military men without doubt deserve the Medal of Honor. It is just too sad that they couldn’t be here to receive their honor, but I pray they will know above. So many of our young are putting their lives on the line for us while turmoil never ends and I sometimes feel we should let those countries battle out their own problems that have been going on for years back in history only to continue and have us lose our military for a neverending issue! They deserve the honors!

Please receive these wonderful young men as heroes of mine and our country! Please award them the highest level of awards for their service for me and my country where they gave their lives for me and my country! The least my country could do for them! Please also raise any benefits to their families for their sacrifice to me and my country!!!

Our heroes deserves the rewards/medals of honors. Make this happen for them and a evert for world peace by command. Our young heroes gave up a lot for people they never knew and from here it is their last Medal of Honor for their service. Is it to little to ask for our military to have a last request of honor for their scaerfice. Please honor them with salute & medal.

this is a tough subject, my take is this, yes the two marines did their job. they were awarded the second highest medal on the list. that is no oversight. the medal of honor would be better but alot of people have acted very brave in the line of duty but received nothing but a small monument without the reality of what they did. to give your life in the direct line of fire should garner the highest award. semperfi srg

This is a long shot given the short amount of time that this has been publicized via the blog. I have been looking at the “terms” and don’t see anything prohibiting making another run at it. Given the full 30 days to blast this over social media, I think 100000 is actually attainable for an issue like this.

Always Faithful…lived that way and obviously died that way…Saved numerous brothers…Why wouldn’t you award them, thereby Honoring them for Courageously Committing their lives for their Brothers and the Corps.

They were presented the Navy Crosss for their actions., but to present the MOH to someone who did their job, what they were trained to do just because they died doing it. I am sorry, there are/were many other service member who died doing their job, do we go back and give all of them the MOH?